Forza Italia August 29, 2016

"L" a recent convert

What a week!!! Wow. First off, I want to say that all the missionaries
in this mission are safe. There was a 6.1 earthquake up near Rome this
week and a lot of people were killed. It was about 2.5 hours away from
here and happened at 3:30am. We were asleep but we've heard from
several of our friends here that they were awake and felt it. Please
keep everyone that was effected by it in your prayers!


As we were teaching R this week, we were bearing testimony about
the atonement and I felt completely overwhelmed with love for her.
I've only known her for about 5 weeks, but I felt like I was given a
glimpse of God's love for her. It was amazing :)

What happens when we ask the Elders to take pics for us.....all blurry hahaha

Ok, ready for the biggest miracle?!?! Friday night we met these two
teenage girls and their mom-E (19), P (17), and M the mom. We
taught them right there on the street about how they can be an eternal
family and set a return appointment for the next night. They came on
Saturday night and brought their dad too!! We taught them all the
Restoration and they LOVED it. It felt like we were on the District
haha. Dream lesson. They are so excited and preparing to be baptized
on October 8th!!! It was so amazing. They are elect! My favorite quote
from the night was, "What do I have to do to be a Sorella like you
guys? I want to be Sorella E one day!" Music to my ears :)

They said they were coming to church the next morning and we were
pretty bummed when they didn't show up. They called us later on Sunday
and explained that their mom had work at 7am and they didn't have a
ride because their dad's car wouldn't start but that they've been
reading the Book of Mormon and praying and are loving it!

Weekly planning selfie

On Monday we did an FHE with this cute blonde (😊) American family on
the base. They gave us a huge jar of peanut butter and a big container
of mint oreos 😍 The tiniest jar of peanut butter here is literally
€6.50 so we loooove having Americans in the ward who live on the base
and can get stuff for cheap. It's the little things. Invite the
missionaries over guys! We've been eating PB&J's all week.

We added another investigator this week, A, who owns a gym and is a body builder. Guys,
she's ripped. Hahaha #lifegoals. I was thinking the other day about
how we have to exercise every day. What happens when we don't? We lose
muscle, it becomes harder the next time, we lose motivation, etc. It's
exactly the same with working out spiritually. When we aren't doing
the small things every day like reading the scriptures and praying,
Satan works a lot harder on us and it becomes much harder. We lose
spiritual strength. I'm thankful to be here on a mission and to have 2
hours set aside every day to study the scriptures and "spriritually
exercise". :) I encourage you all to go watch the Mormon Message,
"Flecks of Gold." We use this all the time with our MA's
(Meno-attivi's = less-actives) and investigators to show that as we do
the small things every day, piano piano (little by little) they will
become big things.

Spero che tutto sia posto! Grazie per i vostri esempi e le vostre
testimonianze! I have the best family & friends ever. Ciao ciao for
now :)

❤️,
Sorella Hess

Sent from my iPad

August 8, 2016 "vesuvius, Exchanges, Sushi, etc.

Hi guys!! Another amazing week!! 

Here are some highlights:

-R is doing awesome!! She has read 12 chapters of the BOM and said she feels peace every day when she reads :) She explained everything she had read perfectly!! I love her :)

Chalk street display we did for our exchange with the other Sorelle.

3 Meal Appointments in the past week!!! (WHOO!!) Discovered that my stomach shrunk since I left Taranto because we haven't been eating as much with members. The first meal appointment this week almost killed me hahaha. Soo much food!

-We spent P-day hiking Mt. Vesuvius today (massive volcano near Napoli). Sooo cool. I have to pinch myself because it feels like a dream on days like this. (Pics included!) EVERYONE needs to see it from the top! You can see the whole Napoli Bay-Amalfi, Capri, Pozzuoli, Ischia, Napoli, etc. Pictures don't do it justice!!

Looking into the volcano!! 

😍😍😍

-

I had an exchange with Sorella Littlefield from Orem! Always so fun to be with people from UT county:) 

-I found out that my investigator Miriam (18yr old) from Taranto was baptized last week!! Seriously made my entire week!! So happy for her :)

-After DDM (District Meeting) in Napoli on Wednesday, our whole district went out and got sushi! All you can eat for only €9!! We definitely got our money's worth!!

I've been studying a lot this week about what it means to be truly converted. I loved the talk by Bonnie Oscarson from October of 2013. She said, "Being truly converted means we are acting upon what we believe and allowing it to "create a mighty change in us or in our hearts. We must do the work first and exercise faith by living the gospel, and then we will receive a witness that it is true." I've seen this a lot on my mission. When we ask someone to follow the word of wisdom or come to church or something, they have to act on faith to do it and then that's when their testimony of it comes. The same is with us! We have to act and have faith in order to be converted so we can have that mighty change :) 

Also I encourage you all to read "Laborers in the Vineyard" by Elder Holland from April 2012. It's incredible.

Sorry this is all over the place! We don't have much time to email today but I promise I'll respond to everyone next week :) Sure love you all!! 

Xoxo,

Sorella Hess

1. Chalk street display we did for our exchange with the other Sorelle.

2. Looking into the volcano!! 

3. 😍😍😍

August 22, 2016 "Who let the blondes out??"

Hi everyone!! Here we go! Transfer 5!! My new companion
is...........Sorella Jarnagin!!! Back in January we actually met
before we'd left on the mission and we went to the temple together! We
wanted to be companions so badly and it happened!! She's a champ!
She's 1 transfer younger than me in the mission so we're both pretty
young here but excited and ready to work hard. We've already seen tons
of miracles this week. Here's to a 7-week transfer.

Last District pic before transfers

Wednesday we took a train for almost 2 hours and went to Benevento.
Our investigator G invited us to come out to her vacation house
(it's in our area) and to meet her family. It was so beautiful!! It's
this little Italian mountain town. We got there and basically crashed
a family party. She was telling all her cousins about how great the
Mormons are and how much she loves us and everything. Haha we got a
couple of referrals for the Milan missionaries (her cousins). We
taught them the plan of salvation and they all loved it!! Haha so
random but fun.

Cute street in a city in our area

T




















Thursday was transfer day!! We spent the day in Napoli waiting for new
companions to arrive. It's fun being in this zone because anyone who's
traveling from Rome anywhere down south has to pass through Napoli
Centrale so I got to see a bunch of old missionaries that I've served
with :)

We've been able to add several new investigators already so we're so
excited for this transfer!! Caserta sta fiorendo!! Keep us two blonde
sisters in your prayers haha. People have told us that we would never
serve together because we both stand out here so bad but we know that
there are people here who need to hear our testimonies. I love the
quote by Harold B Lee that says, "The gospel is to comfort the
afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Haha, it's true. There is no
comfort in a growth zone and no growth in a comfort zone. I'm not
feeling suuuper comfortable right now but I know that Heavenly Father
wants us to grow :)

My Grandpa sent me an awesome talk this morning by Elder Maxwell that
has a quote that I really love. "When in situations of stress we
wonder if there is any more in us to give, we can be comforted to know
that God, who knows our capacity perfectly, placed us here to succeed.
No one was foreordained to fail or to be wicked. When we have been
weighed and found wanting, let us remember that we were measured
before and we were found equal to our tasks; and, therefore, let us
continue, but with a more determined discipleship. When we feel
overwhelmed, let us recall the assurance that God will not over
program us; he will not press upon us more than we can bear. You have
been measured and found adequate for the challenges that will face you
as citizens of the kingdom of God; of that you should have a deep
inner assurance. Be true to that trust."

I love you guys. Thank you for all of your support and love. I'm so
blessed!! There's no place I'd rather be right now. Forza Italia!!!

Love,
Sorella Hess

Last District pic before transfers
Cute street in a city in our area
Posterity picture. Sorella Adamson (in the middle) trained both of us.
i missionari di Caserta!! We now have 2 sets of elders here!
Me and Sorella Jarnagin back in January :)
R and her mom (she has Alzheimer's and is the cutest thing ever)

Posterity picture. Sorella Adamson (in the middle) trained both of us.

i missionari di Caserta!! We now have 2 sets of elders here!

Me and Sorella Jarnagin back in January

R and her mom (she has Alzheimer's and is the cutest thing ever)

August 15, 2016 "Miracoli ovunque!!"

Buona ferragosto (holiday in Italy where everyone and their dog goes to the beach :) So many miracles this week! Where to start?!

R. Tuesday we had a lesson with her and the first thing she asks is, "I've been reading the Book of Mormon and praying every day, but how do I know I'm feeling the spirit? I always feel peaceful when I read, is that the answer?" Music to a missionary's ears😍 Wednesday we were going to visit our investigator who lives right by Rosalia, and after we left her lesson, I called up to Rosalia's balcony because her door was opened just to say bye (just retread that sentence out loud and it made no sense haha). She comes out and is like, "Are you guys not coming up?!" Ummm yeah! We can do that hahaha:) So we were able to have another lesson with her. And then the next day she invited us back too! She's finished with 1st Nephi already and can explain the story backwards and forwards! We were talking about faith with her on Saturday and she brought up what a great example of faith Nephi is! She's amazing :)

At our favorite park by our house the other night. 

G: We've been trying to meet with her and teach her the Restoration this entire transfer but every time we go to her store, there's always a customer distracting her so we have to cut it short. The other day she invited us over to the store so we went and taught her the Restoration. It couldn't have gone any better!! Not a single person came in and interrupted us which was a miracle in and of itself. She just kept saying how she feels like Joseph Smith because she's always been looking for the truth and has felt lost her whole life! She told us she would be baptized when she knows that the Book of Mormon is true :) :) :) 

Joseph Smith movie night with our favorite people :)

F: She's from the Philippines so we teach her in English (which is a struggle because we never teach/pray in English haha but Heavenly Father makes it work). She's 39 and is the cuuuutest thing. We were able to set a baptismal date with her and are so excited :) 

R: My Chilean Grandma :) We taught her this week and the lesson went so well! She said she wants to be completely ready when she's baptized but we're hoping for sometime in October! 

Got proposed to the other night on the street by a random man in his 50's. Wish I could say that it was the first time hahaha. I told him I'm a missionary for another year and he said that it's ok, he'll wait. Hahahhaha. Oh dear... 

We had a movie night with 2 of our recent converts in the ward and Rory and Gianfranco (investigators). We watched the Joseph Smith Restoration movie and had popcorn and other dolci. It isn't translated to Italian purtroppo (unfortunately) so we did the next best thing... español. Hahaha it's close enough to Italian and we all understood it. #giftoftongues :) But Mamma Mia, my testimony of the Restoration has grown so much on my mission. We have the privilege of telling these people about it all day every day. It really is true you guys :)

Church with R (investigator) and L (recent convert) yesterday :)

Ok well this turned into a novel. Sorry about that haha. Last thing I want to share is just a thought that I had while reading a talk the other day. It said something along the lines of "the Savior is able and eager to forgive our sins." You know that feeling when you give someone a present and you just can't wait for them to open it and use it and enjoy it? It's the same thing with the Savior and His Atonement. He's given us the most incredible gift anyone could ever give and all we have to do is access it and do our best to be like Him to have eternal life.

I'm so happy to be here in Italy serving as a representative of the Savior. Love you all un mondo di bene! 

Love,

Sorella Hess

Ps, we get transfer calls tonight!! Hopefully this is the last 5 week transfer for a while because my mission is going by WAY too fast. It will be interesting to see what happens :) Stay tuned...

Sent from my iPad

At our favorite park by our house the other night. 

Joseph Smith movie night with our favorite people :)

Church with R (investigator) and L (recent convert) yesterday :)

August 8, 2016 "Vesuvius, Exchanges, Sushi, etc."

Hi guys!! Another amazing week!! 

Here are some highlights:

-R is doing awesome!! She has read 12 chapters of the BOM and said she feels peace every day when she reads :) She explained everything she had read perfectly!! I love her :)

Chalk street display we did for our exchange with the other Sorelle.

3 Meal Appointments in the past week!!! (WHOO!!) Discovered that my stomach shrunk since I left Taranto because we haven't been eating as much with members. The first meal appointment this week almost killed me hahaha. Soo much food!

-We spent P-day hiking Mt. Vesuvius today (massive volcano near Napoli). Sooo cool. I have to pinch myself because it feels like a dream on days like this. (Pics included!) EVERYONE needs to see it from the top! You can see the whole Napoli Bay-Amalfi, Capri, Pozzuoli, Ischia, Napoli, etc. Pictures don't do it justice!!

Looking into the volcano!! 

😍😍😍

-

I had an exchange with Sorella Littlefield from Orem! Always so fun to be with people from UT county:) 

-I found out that my investigator Miriam (18yr old) from Taranto was baptized last week!! Seriously made my entire week!! So happy for her :)

-After DDM (District Meeting) in Napoli on Wednesday, our whole district went out and got sushi! All you can eat for only €9!! We definitely got our money's worth!!

I've been studying a lot this week about what it means to be truly converted. I loved the talk by Bonnie Oscarson from October of 2013. She said, "Being truly converted means we are acting upon what we believe and allowing it to "create a mighty change in us or in our hearts. We must do the work first and exercise faith by living the gospel, and then we will receive a witness that it is true." I've seen this a lot on my mission. When we ask someone to follow the word of wisdom or come to church or something, they have to act on faith to do it and then that's when their testimony of it comes. The same is with us! We have to act and have faith in order to be converted so we can have that mighty change :) 

Also I encourage you all to read "Laborers in the Vineyard" by Elder Holland from April 2012. It's incredible.

Sorry this is all over the place! We don't have much time to email today but I promise I'll respond to everyone next week :) Sure love you all!! 

Xoxo,

Sorella Hess

1. Chalk street display we did for our exchange with the other Sorelle.

2. Looking into the volcano!! 

3. 😍😍😍